Give and Take
by lunarchroniclesandcockatiels
Summary: An accident that changes everything. A web of lies. How Percy's world crashed down on top of him. *Updates daily.* Dedicated to my readers.
1. Part 1- Life

**Disclaimer: I do not own PJO.**

 _Life_

is a contest

that Percy Jackson somehow managed to get first place in.

That is, until someone steals the prize

{he thought it was his}

and everything

he thought

he knew

is gone.

Lost

taken

stolen

from him.

When they tell him the news,

he is holding

a card.

With him,

and Annabeth,

and Maddie,

and Luke,

and Joey,

and little Katie.

{so small, yet so determined. the doctors say she held on the longest}

They are wearing Santa hats

and the card is the simplest thing in the world

but what it contains is the hardest to come by,

something so simplistic,

yet so meaningful,

and he is not sure he will ever feel it again.

 **A/N: Thoughts? Theories? What do you think happened? Please reviews! I will continue ASAP.**


	2. Part 2- Unattached

**A/N: A special thank-you to _ImpossibleThings12_ and _Birdlover52percabeth_ for reviewing. Go check them out!**

 _Unattached_

is a word that Percy

knows well.

It is used to describe the gods' relationships with their children,

the way that they are gone

from their children's' lives.

Their uncaring nature.

Percy is led by a tall doctor, more concerned with his glasses than Percy.

"We need you to identify the bodies," he says, straightening his smooth white coat.

So distant.

So far away.

So _unattached._

This is not the doctor's life. _He_ has nothing but pity.

Percy wants to scream.

He wants to wake up from the dream that contains words

like car crash,

truck,

speeding,

DUI.

Like a child, he yearns to hide so the bad things

 _go away._

He does not scream.

Instead, he follows the man into five separate rooms.

"Madison." She is first.

She is _always_ first.

First child, first daughter, first grandchild. First to go to school.

They said she was also the first one to go.

{funny how that works}

"Luke."

He was _nothing_ like his namesake.

He was smart.

Extremely caring, especially with his little sister and brother.

He never wanted to fight anyone. Hated when people got hurt.

He liked birdwatching.

{he was only nine, but he loved to stare at the birds for hours}

"Joseph."

He was their crazy one, the one who dug up the entire yard searching for "buried treasure."

The one who broke his wrist on Thanksgiving because he tried to ride a sled down the stairs.

He never

 _ever_

did something halfway.

{he may have been slightly crazy, but he had the sweetest smile}

"Cassia."

Katie.

They called her

 _Katie_

because when she was born, Joey couldn't pronounce her name, so he called her _Katie_ and it stuck.

She was always so small, so young,

 _but_

she worked _so_ hard

to do everything her siblings could.

She wanted to grow up right away,

be just like Mommy and Daddy

{but she never got the chance, did she?}

He clenches his fists, feels the Christmas card in his pocket.

Life is cruel,

isn't it?

And all this time he thought he was past that.

Past the pain,

the suffering,

death itself.

{guess he was wrong}

"Annabeth."

His Wise Girl.

She looks like she's asleep.

He inhales.

Deeply.

He is going to be sick,

he can tell.

He is going to be sick,

because none of this was supposed to happen,

and Annabeth is dead,

his _entire family_ is dead.

He is in shock, and he knows it.

It doesn't seem real.

 _None_

of

it

seems real.

And suddenly,

he is sticking his head in a trash can,

throwing up.

He is sitting against the wall,

wide-eyed,

when a question occurs to him.

"What about the baby?"

{because he thought everyone was gone. they told him everyone was gone.}

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed! Please review!**


	3. Part 3- 24

**A/N: Thank you to _ImpossibleThings12_ , _Eeveelutions Are Awesome,_ and _collapsar_ for reviewing last chapter. Your reviews mean a lot to me! Thanks, guys!**

 _24_

is a very special number, as Percy now knows.

It is,

{as Annabeth once informed him}

the largest number divisible by all numbers less than its square root.

It is the atomic number of chromium.

There are twenty-four hours in a day.

It is also the amount of weeks at which a baby is considered viable, as the doctors say.

.~.

"What about the baby?" he questions,

sitting against the wall,

knees pulled up to his chin.

The doctor frowns,

his lips forming an upside-down _u_.

"You mean they didn't tell you?"

the doctor's frown deepens.

Percy repeats the question, annunciating consonants.

"What about

the _baby_?"

{there is something extremely disconcerting about not knowing what happened to the last member of your family}

"We really should get a therapist to speak with you," the doctor sighs. "Hang on, just-"

"No, tell me!" he shouts. "Tell me!"

Hands go up. "All right, all right, calm down."

"Tell _me_!" he screams.

"I don't know," he says calmly.

And in the end, Percy has to go upstairs and talk to an ER nurse

who informs him that the baby is a _she_ ,

and that _she_ is in the NICU,

so the doctors there will be able to tell him more.

She offers to tell him more about what happened with his family.

"Don't you want to know the full story?"

.~.

He doesn't wait for the complete explanation.

{after all, why bother with completion anymore when his family will never be complete again?}

All he can think about is Annabeth,

with her hand over her stomach,

telling him the news the day after they took the picture on the Christmas card.

{the only picture he will ever have with everyone in it}

And so he rides the elevator,

puts on his pink gown,

steps into the NICU,

and listens to the doctors explain every possible way his daughter

could die,

or how she may survive, but never be

 _normal._

{after all, she's only 24 weeks. the cusp of viability.}

Percy wants to tell the doctors how there is nothing wrong with being different,

after all,

he and Annabeth always were.

 **A/N: Thank you so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed it! Please review!**


	4. Part 4- Small

**A/N: Thank you so much to _toolazytologin_ and _PsychoNerdGirl_ for reviewing!**

 _Small_

does not even began to describe his

new daughter.

Her miniscule fingers are no longer than

the first digit of his pinky.

She is small enough to fit in one hand.

{if they would let him hold her}

So tiny,

 _only one pound, one ounce_

but with so many big problems

 _larger than her_

{it took an hour of the doctors explaining them all before Percy was even allowed to look at her}

.~.

He is dreading making the call,

the call he knows he will have to make.

Twice, in fact.

He will have to make it

 _twice._

{the amount of times annabeth said 'i love you' before she left}

He turns around in his chair, to look at his daughter yet again

{somehow that never gets old}

She is sleeping peacefully,

unaware of the problems that surround her.

Or maybe she _is_ aware.

After all, she was taken from her home far too soon,

brought into a cruel world,

where everything she thought she knew is gone.

 _Like father, like daughter._

He picks up the phone. He knows what to do.

.~.

The numbers dials.

Rings.

He holds his breath.

Squeezes his eyes shut.

"Percy?" comes his mother's voice.

"Mom?" he fights tears, a losing battle.

He feels an urge to call her _Mommy_ ,

something he has not done since he was very

small.

"Are you all right, sweetheart?"

"No...Mom..." _The tears slips out._

{he has to be strong. he has a daughter. he can't go crying for his mother. not now}

"What's wrong?" The panic in her voice is evident. "Is it Annabeth? Is something wrong with the baby?"

He hears his voice, but he can not feel the words as they cross his tongue.

"Mom, everyone is dead."

.~.

He ends the first call, dreading the second.

Instead, he stands up, stretches his legs.

The nurses offer to show him to the cafeteria, but he declines.

After all, Percy Jackson is _anything_ but a stranger in this hospital.

 **A/N: Thank you for reading! Please review!**


	5. Part 5- Family

**A/N: Thank you to ImpossibleThings12 for reviewing!**

 _Family_

is a powerful thing.

It is unconditional love.

It is the glue that holds people together.

It is putting the needs of others before your own.

It is knowing that

 _no matter what happens_

someone is going to be there for you.

 _Family_ is everything.

Percy realizes that he still has a family

when his mother appears in the doorway of the NICU,

carrying a large bag.

"Oh, Percy,"

She is hugging him,

and suddenly everything is crashing down upon him.

He is hit by a sudden and awful wave of pain.

It is _so much._

It is too much.

He melts into her,

allowing himself to cry,

 _to truly_ _cry_

for the first time.

And his mother just holds onto him.

.~.

"She's so small,"

Sally whispers.

She is peering into the incubator where the baby is lying,

with all the wires coming out of her tiny body.

"She looks strong, though."

They both know she is lying.

The baby looks like a fragile China plate,

and he is scared she will shatter into a thousand pieces.

"Percy," she intones gently. "

"Did you and-" her voice falters. "Did you two think of any names yet?"

"No," he admits. "We were busy... And she was only twenty-four weeks..."

Percy glances down at his daughter.

So little, yet she has all her fingers and toes...

Maybe she is stronger than he thought.

"Well, you can't let her go without a name for too long," Sally says.

He doesn't respond.

"Percy?" she questions.

"I wanna name her Zoë."

 _{after all, if this baby is going to survive, she's going to have to be strong. and brave}_

Sally smiles.

 _She has no idea_.

.~.

 **A/N: Thanks for reading! So, how was it? Good? Bad? Meh? Anything you'd like to see? Your input really helps! *cough* review! *cough***


	6. Part 6- Monster

**A/N: I am so, so sorry for not updating! Basically, I was away, and I was super busy, and yeah... But I promise to continue updating daily. Starting now.**

 **Thank you to _ImpossibleThings12_ for reviewing.**

 _Monster_

is the word Percy Jackson would use to describe the man who murdered his wife,

his _entire family._

He even pictures him with a green face, and glowing red eyes,

like from one of the Halloween movies Luke used to watch,

his arm around Joey and Katie.

What he did not expect was a young man,

in his mid-thirties, with a wife and children.

A young man who was now in a coma.

He was not a monster,

Percy decided.

No. He was a _thief,_

 _stealing_ everything Percy cared about.

{somehow that was worse, knowing that it was a man and not a monster who had done these things}

.~.

Having Zoë, having a family again

was like air when you're drowning in the middle of the sea.

Just a breath, though, and you're pulled under, not knowing if you will ever eee the sun again.

 _So small she can't even cry._

He turns the sentence over and over in his mind,

thinks of something,

of _someone_

he has not thought about in a long time.

{he tried to lock the memory away, tried to do away with it}

But bits and pieces escape every now and then.

.~.

"I want to see him." Percy blurts out the sentence.

He is staring at Zoë, a picture of innocence gone dark.

He wonders if she understands that this isn't how the world is supposed to be, that babies aren't supposed to lose their families all because of one person's mistake.

"I want to see him," Percy repeats to the nurse. "I want to see the man who killed my family."

The nurse looks at him with shifty eyes. "Now why would you want to do that?"

"I need to see him," he hopes she hears the urgency in his voice.

He feels like a child again, wanting to peel his mother's fingers away so he can see the scary movie.

"Well, that's not up to me. Go talk to the desk," she walks away, looking at him with a sort of pity and maybe a little bit of fear.

.~.

"I want to see him," Percy repeats.

"Why?" the man questions. He is wearing a suit, and has an air of importance around him. "He's in a coma, you know."

"Because I need to know if he's a monster or not. I want to see his family. I want to talk to him."

"Fine," the man throws up his hands. "I'll see what I can do."

So that is why thirty minutes later, Percy Jackson is following a nurse to a room.

They go inside, and Percy Jackson finds himself staring at the man in the bed.

The monster- no, the _thief_.

{how ironic}

The man who took his family's life.

The man who is none other than Travis Stoll.

 **A/N: Please review!**


	7. Part 7- Leave

**A/N: Thank you so much to _Guest_ for reviewing! I really hope you guys enjoy this!**

 _Leave_

is the last thing his sister said to him.

 _Leave, and don't come back._

And then they pulled him away.

.~.

He wakes up sweating.

Percy feels as if he's just ran a marathon, not fallen asleep in a hospital chair.

Gasping for air, he tries to clear his head by drinking from a bottle of water he bought from the cafeteria only a day ago.

And then everything comes rushing back to him. He grips the side of the chair, his eyes adjusting to the bright light that always seems to be on.

Waking up is always the hardest part of the day.

.~.

"Percy," Katie grabs his arm. "You're here. You're _here_ ," This is the second time he's been in this room, though the first time it was just Travis in there.

She grips his arm, holding on to it as if she is terrified that he will disappear any moment, that he is going to leave her the same way that Percy presumes Travis did.

He doesn't have the heart to pull away, especially not when he sees the small, wide-eyed little boy standing next to her.

"Travis was in an accident," she continues.

Percy notices the dark lines around her eyes that mirror his own. She has probably not slept in at least a day, he presumes.

"The police said that he was drinking, and that he hit someone, but he didn't. Travis would never do that. You need to tell them, Percy," Katie points towards the police, her hand shaking. "You have to tell them he wouldn't do that. Not _my_ Travis. They must have the wrong person. Just tell them. Please."

It is only then that Percy is aware of the way Katie is holding her stomach. Just like Annabeth.

"No," he whispers huskily. "No, Katie, I can't."

" _Please_ ," she begs, the tears rolling down her face. "Please, Percy. I-I can't do this."

She's in shock. He recognizes the look on her face because it's the same one that's been plastered on his own for the past week.

"Katie," he warns, prying her fingers off of his arm. She is sobbing now, really sobbing. "Do you want me to call someone for you?"

He tries desperately to remember the names of anyone in the Demeter Cabin, anyone Katie was friends with.

"N-no," she mutters.

"What about Miranda? Or... Alice?" He picks up a name that he somehow remembers being related with Katie. "Gracie? Do you want me to call Gracie?"

She looks up at him in stunned silence.

"I-I can't breathe," she says, her eyes suddenly wide. "I can't breathe! Help me!"

Her eyelids are fluttering; she is falling into him. He hears himself yelling for the nurses, but has no recollection of feeling the words on his tongue.

And then he remembers as they are carrying her away on a stretcher, finally notices the absence of a little girl in the room.

{No wonder Annabeth always called him 'Seaweed Brain'}

Gracie was Travis and Katie's first child.

And she had cancer.

.~.

Percy has a vague recollection of a funeral a year or so back. He doesn't remember attending, but remembers Annabeth telling him about it.

He remembers her putting on a black dress and leaving in the car, while he stayed at home with Katie (the baby), who was sick at the time.

Besides that, the only thing he can recall is a few distressed phone calls from Chiron and Connor. But that was it. Nothing more.

Percy thinks about Gracie, so young when she died.

She must have missed out on so much.

She never got to grow up, never got to have her fifth birthday party.

Never got to go to school.

And the worst part is that she is just a vague recollection, a photograph hidden behind layers of dust.

No one remembers her, but for a select few.

He realizes he isn't just thinking of Gracie, but of four of his children.

 _They were so young_...

Percy picks up the phone and dials a number he is surprised he hasn't forgotten.

.~.

 _Leave,_

little Katie says, resting her head against him.

 _We have to leave, Daddy. Or else we'll be late_.

Already she is so much like her parents.

 _Okay,_ he tells her. _Have fun_.

It is the last thing he said to her. _Have fun._

 **A/N: Please, please review! It means so much to me, and it really helps when I know what people think of the story.**

 **-lunarchroniclesandcockatiels**


	8. Part 8- Answers

**A/N: Hey guys! Thank you to _ImpossibleThings12,_ _IfOnly42_ and _Birdlover52percabeth_ for reviewing! It really meant a lot to me, so thank you so much!**

Answers

are something Percy Jackson has been waiting for his entire life.

He still has so many questions.

 _How do you lead a good life?_

 _How do you raise a child?_

But most importantly, the question that has taken over his mind for five days now:

{has it really only been five days? it seems like an entire lifetime}

Where did I go wrong?

 _Where did it all turn around?_

.~.

Frederick Chase answers on the first ring.

"Hello," he answers. "Who is this?"

Percy holds his breath.

"Hello?" the man repeats. "Is anyone there?"

"Frederick," he says. "Um...hi."

"Percy?" Frederick sounds surprised, almost stunned even.

Percy wonders why until he remembers the last time he talked to Annabeth's father was a little after Katie learned to walk.

{has it really been that long?}

"Um, yeah," he replies. "Dr. Chase..." He pauses. "there's something I need to tell you."

"Are you coming for Christmas this year?" Frederick interjects.

"Christmas?" Percy whispers.

He vaguely remembers Annabeth mentioning they go visit her family for Christmas...

"Dr. Chase, there's something I need to tell you. It's about your daughter."

"Annabeth?" he sounds hopeful. "Can you put her on the phone, please?"

"No, you don't understand," Percy realizes that he doesn't want to be the one to break this man, to inform him that his only daughter is gone. "There's been an accident."

 _Ignorance is bliss,_

but {he remembers the old saying that someone once made a poster of and hung in the Athena Cabin so long ago}

 _Knowledge is power._

"An accident?" Frederick repeats. "What about Annabeth? Is she okay?"

He shudders.

He, Percy Jackson, two-time Savior of Olympus, is a coward.

And so he hides from the truth,

shies away from it.

{no. knowledge is not power. it is the thing that breaks you down and kills you. knowledge is pain. horrible, mind blowing pain}

"Frederick, I think you need to come down here."

Percy hangs up, his mind spinning.

.~.

"Daddy,"

Maddie is ten and suddenly has questions about death.

"Why did Gracie die?"

He shouldn't be surprised, shouldn't be caught off guard, but somehow he is.

"She was sick. You know that,"

"But why couldn't the doctors help her?"

"I don't know, Maddie."

She scrunches up her face. "But she was so little,"

"I know, baby," he sighs.

"But that's not fair!" Maddie cries, squeezing her fists.

Up until now, she has had a set system of what was just. Now that is smashed to pieces.

"That's not fair!" she repeats.

They never mention it again.

.~.

It is raining outside.

He hears the pitter-patter of the drops on the window.

He needs to brush his teeth, so he opens the door to the bathroom, looking for the toothbrush that he always makes sure to leave at his mother's house.

What he sees is not his toothbrush, but his sister leaning over the toilet.

And she is throwing up.

She notices him staring down at her, and so she looks up.

Pale and frightened.

 _Don't tell Mom._

.~.

When he puts his phone away, walks back into the NICU with all of its pink aprons and purple butterflies, he immediately notices one thing.

Zoë is gone.

{and maybe knowledge is pain, but it is also answers. he _needs_ answers}

 **A/N: Thank you for reading. Seriously. You guys are the best.**


	9. Part 9- Abandoned

**A/N: Thank you so, so much to _Kirsty_ for reviewing! It really meant a lot. :)**

 _Abandoned_

is perhaps the word Annabeth Chase would use to describe the way she felt when her father married Helen.

Five years old, she felt like the world hated her, that her father no longer loved her.

And so, a little more than two years later she crept out of the house in the silent middle of the night and ran away.

 _Abandoned_

is the word Percy Jackson would use to describe the way he felt when at age four, he realized that other kids had a daddy but he didn't.

Only in preschool, but it seemed everyone else in the world had something he never would.

.~.

Gone. Missing.

The spot where little Zoë's incubator was is now empty.

{like his heart. almost empty but not quite}

A thousand thoughts flash through his head.

 _Did she think I abandoned her, the way everyone else seemed to?_

{first maddie. then joey. luke. annabeth. then katie}

"Where is she? Is she okay?" Percy yells.

A thousand eyes seem to turn to him, all at once.

A hundred people in pink medical gowns stare at him.

Someone tells him to be quiet.

Finally, a nurse turns to him and whispers something about an emergency surgery.

They needed him to give consent, but it was an emergency and they couldn't find him, so they asked his mother.

She looks at him with downcast eyes that seem to question where he was, and what could possibly be more important than his extremely sick daughter.

.~.

"You made a promise!" she screamed.

 _You made a promise, and then you abandoned me!_

A hand.

Holding on.

Watching it slip out of his.

Watching his sister be dragged into the silky black night.

.~.

Paperwork.

That is all Percy seems to ever do at this hospital.

Mountains and mountains of it.

He is sitting cross-legged in a waiting room chair, fearing for his daughter's life.

Waiting for his mother to come by, the way she does almost every day.

{but not yesterday. yesterday was different}

He starts swinging his keys, but drops them. He reaches under the seat to pull them out, but what he finds instead is a little boy, who starts to cry.

"Are you a bad guy?" the little boy questions. He wipes his green eyes with the back of his hand. "Because you made my Mommy go away."

Travis and Katie's child.

Jamey.

Percy suddenly remembers the little boy who clung to his mother yesterday, even as she was ripped away.

The boy who lost a sister. And may very well have lost a father to a life in prison, and a mother to the psych ward.

A certain feeling creeps up over him, one that he seems to have met with very often in the past few days.

Guilt.

Because where was he when Zoë needed surgery?

 _Making a phone call._

And where was he when this little boy lost his sister, _when his family fell apart?_

And then again when his mother was taken away and his father was in a coma?

{where was he when his _sister's_ world collapsed?}

 **A/N: Thank you for reading! Is there anything you guys would like to see next chapter? I'm open to suggestions! Honestly, any review would mean a lot.**

 **-lunarchroniclesandcockatiels**


	10. Part 10- Pieces

**A/N: Wow! 4 reviews! Thank you so much to _ImpossibleThings12, Guest, Birdlover52percabeth,_ and _animaljam_ for reviewing. You guys are literally amazing!**

 **By the way, I'm sorry if the story seems confusing for now. All will be revealed soon!**

 **Guest: In the first _Trials of Apollo_ book, Sally is 7 months pregnant with a baby girl. That's the sister I'm referencing. :) However, this story occurs about eighteen years later, when she is seventeen, and Percy is thirty-six.**

 **.~.**

Pieces

are all that are left of his memories.

Shards of broken glass and such.

It feels like somehow part of him was in that car crash,

and everything became jumbled.

Now the days seem to melt into each other, and he has lost his sense of time.

.~.

Jamey refuses to get out from under the seat.

"I want my Mommy," he informs Percy. "I don't like you. You're _scary._ And _weird_ ," he adds, scribbling on a piece of paper.

Percy pretends not to hear.

Instead, he concentrates on filling out his date of birth for what feels like the millionth time.

"I think my Mommy is sick," Jamey sighs. "The doctors took her away, just like with Daddy."

"She's okay," Percy says, hoping that he's telling the truth.

Jamey sticks his head out from under the seat. "Mommy says Daddy is sleeping," he pouts. "But I tried to wake him up, and it didn't work."

"Maybe he's tired." Percy tries to avoid telling the four-year old that his father might not wake up.

Jamey seems to consider this. "The doctors take everyone away."

He can't argue.

"Percy!" he turns around to see his mother, a cup of coffee in her hands. She looks a mixture of sad and mad and everything in between. " _Where were you_?"

.~.

According to his mother, Percy Jackson was gone from the NICU for over seven hours.

 _Seven hours_.

Seven hours in which his daughter was getting sicker and sicker.

Seven hours in which he was with Katie and Travis, and talking to Frederick Chase on the phone.

{how could that have possibly been seven hours?}

His mother reaches up to hug him when she finishes speaking, tears of relief coming to her eyes. _You scared me, Percy._

He pulls away.

His hands are shaking, and he doesn't know why.

{percy jackson is falling apart}

.~.

A nurse finally comes in to tell them that the surgery went well, that Zoë is fine.

It was all over so quickly.

Percy feels something on his face, but when he reaches up to touch it with his hand, it feels wet, like water.

He's crying.

.~.

 _His sister is sobbing._

 _"My heart is in pieces, Percy."_

 _Then three words that will haunt him for the rest of his life._

 _"You broke me."_

 _.~._

They let Percy see her again directly after.

{jamey is with him, squeezing his hand so tight that it's turning blue}

She is still the same size, the same weight.

But something is different. Somehow Zoë looks stronger.

A strange feeling travels up his spine.

He realizes that he's living for her now, that from this point on, her needs are first.

No more falling apart. No more losing himself. No more locking himself away in the crevice of his mind, trying to hide from the darkness.

Percy Jackson swears that he will glue the pieces of his life back together one by one, if that's what it takes to get his life back.

And he will do it not for himself, but for the tiny baby lying in an incubator in front of him.

 _She is his everything._

.~.

 **A/N: I hope you enjoyed! I promise to update more regularly from now on! Expect an update at least every other day.**

 **By the way, are any of you close enough to watch the solar eclipse? Unfortunately, I'm not, but it seems like it would be pretty interesting to watch.**

 **Until next time,**

 **lunarchroniclesandcockatiels**

 **P.S. Please review! It really helps!**


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